Granting Wishes
by nemaara
Summary: Sometimes, wishes are granted before you even think of them - Robin/Raven


Disclaimer: Teen Titans isn't mine

Tsundere-Raven...

"Speech"

_Thoughts_

* * *

_Peace. Quiet. Tranquility. _Of all nights, she had to be glad that it was tonight when everyone else had gone out to a Titan's only party, leaving her to her nice, solitary silence, where she could meditate in peace. _Yup... this is great. _

Or, at least that was what she thought before she heard a noise from downstairs.

Frowning, Raven got up and opened the door to her room, looking around carefully. _Who could it be? The alarm should sound if someone breaks in... I guess it could be one of the others. Wonder who'd be back so early though._

Gliding through the hall, she descended the stairs to the common room and opened the door, peeking inside. It was mostly dark, with only a small light coming from the fridge, illuminating a figure that was maybe a little taller than her, with spiky black hair, and what seemed to be the edge of a mask over his eyes-

"Robin?"

He turned, closing the fridge. "Raven."

She raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing here? Weren't you supposed to-"

"Nah. Don't care about parties that much."

"But you're supposed to be the leader of the Titans."

"Doesn't mean I have to like parties."

Raven shrugged. "Okay then. If you need me, I'll be in my room."

"Wait. There's no food right now. Want to go out to get something to eat with me?"

"No thanks-"

"C'mon," he said coaxingly, and she knew he had a smirk on his face without even having to turn.

Raven rolled her eyes. "Not hungry." Her stomach rumbled.

"Liar."

The violet haired girl sighed. "I just wanted to be alone for tonight. Is that too much to ask for?"

"Yes. Look, I know you like your alone time, but it wouldn't hurt to go get dinner with a friend, would it? Especially not when you haven't eaten anything all day or yesterday, or the day before that-"

"How would you know?"

"You haven't been out of your room in three days. And I really doubt you keep a whole bunch of snacks under your bed."

Raven turned, smirking. "You never know." Then closed her eyes and drew a deep breath. "Sure, why not. Let's go eat."

"Excellent."

* * *

"So why did I have to wear a dress again?"

"Hey, I'm wearing a suit too. Besides, you look great."

Raven rolled her eyes, looking down. Admittedly it was a nice dress, one that didn't show too much skin, made of plain, black satin with minimal designs besides a few ruffly edges here and there, with long sleeves and a high neckline. Not bad at all. Now the only question was, _why does Robin even have a dress like this? __It's not like he'd wear something like this - _she snickered slightly at that thought._  
_

Robin raised an eyebrow. "What's so funny?"

"Problem?"

"Well, no, but it's just that you rarely find anything funny."

"Wrong. I just choose not to show it."

He looked at her skeptically. She returned the gaze, face an expressionless mask. He continued staring.

"You know, if you're going to drive a motorcycle, you might want to at least look where you're going."

"What?"

Raven sighed. "Nothing, Boy Blunder. I'll watch for you."

"Watch what? We're already here."

The dark Titan blinked a couple times and looked up, seeing a fancy glowing aperture with dragons decorating the front. The doors were wide open and in the front, two asian men bowed as Robin helped Raven off of the motorcycle, taking off his helmet and setting it on top of it.

"Chinese?" She whispered to him.

"Yup. Chinese New Year. Why not?"

Raven shrugged and followed him inside, looking around at the finely painted images on the walls, the ornate woodwork that filled the restaurant, the crystalline chandeliers lighting the spacious room -

"This place looks expensive," she murmured.

Robin shrugged. "Just because we usually eat cheap doesn't mean we have to all the time."

They waited patiently for a couple minutes, then followed a waiter as he led them to a side room, a quiet place, dimly lit by several candles spread around. He gave them a couple of menus and then left them alone, together, staring at each other rather awkwardly.

Well, mostly it was Raven being awkward. Both of them knew that. It wasn't like she meant to be awkward. It was just... long years with lack of any adequate of social interaction and the fact that with Robin, nothing really needed to be said. Just... expressed. With her face.

He smirked, a little amused at her rather disconcerted look. "Uncomfortable with the atmosphere? High end restaurants can be a little overwhelming at first."

Raven shook her head. "Nothing that complicated. Just don't know what to get."

"Oh. Hmm." He looked at her intently, as if he were studying her carefully - which he was - earning him a rather odd look after a few moments.

"Something wrong?"

"No, no. I just realized that none of us really knows what you like. You know, favorite colors, foods, toys, etc. Well, besides books-"

Raven blinked. "Why does something like that matter?"

"Friends are supposed to know these things, right?"

The violet haired girl rolled her eyes. "Not really that important."

"But say, just say," he held his hands up, as if she were already accusing him before he even talked, "pretend that I was going to get you a gift. I would have no idea where to even start, right? But if you told me a little bit about things you liked-"

"You'll just have to guess," Raven muttered. "Now, mind telling me what's good on this menu?"

Robin frowned. "But-"

"I thought we were here to eat," she said mildly. "Not engage in deep philosophical conversation."

"But I thought you liked such things. Isn't that why you read so much?"

"Eating first. Talking later."

"Fair enough," the masked hero replied. "So good dishes, huh. You know, I've never been here before either. Authentic Chinese was never really my thing."

"So why are we here then?"

"Trying something new?" He offered. Raven scowled a little, and he laughed. "It won't be that bad. I promise."

"Half of these dishes are tofu. Why didn't you bring Beast Boy here instead?"

"Didn't feel like it."

"And you thought that I would be better company than he would?"

"Sure. Is that so hard to believe?"

"Maybe-" Raven broke off as the waiter walked back in. "Not ready to order yet-" She broke off as Robin reached across the table and clamped a hand over her mouth.

"Of course we're ready to order. Uh, let me see." He pointed at a few random dishes, not even knowing what they were, and vainly tried to pronounce the Chinese - which of course, failed - and ended up merely gesturing at whatever happened to be on the top of the page.

Raven glared at him, but let him do as he pleased, since, after all, she didn't know how to read Chinese either. He smiled at her as the waiter left.

"I know you hate surprises, but-"

"I hate you," she muttered, rather unconvincingly.

Robin laughed. "Sure you do."

"I really do. Dragging me out tonight, to a place that you haven't even been to before, ordering random tofu dishes-"

"No tofu dishes."

"Whatever."

Another wide grin. "I bet you'll enjoy it. Just wait."

Raven rolled her eyes again.

* * *

_Some time later... _

"You know, this is surprisingly good," Raven conceded. "Even if I don't have a clue what it is."

"Told you so."

The violet haired girl shrugged. "Still hate you."

"Really?" Robin laid down his fork. "Well, we'll just have to change that, won't we?" He got up and opened the door, looking outside for a moment.

Returning, he sat and grinned at her, clearing a space at the center of the table. Raven gave him a blank stare, but then her eyes widened as she saw their waiter return with a cake, a small cake, enough for the two of them, lit by a single candle in the center. He set it down between them, smiled at Raven's surprised expression, and left.

"Happy birthday," Robin murmured.

Raven opened her mouth, and closed it, looking away, blushing. "You planned this," she muttered.

"Of course I did. Why do you think the waiter led us to a private room-"

"I know. I'm not stupid. But Robin, _you actually remembered,_" she said huskily.

He smiled. "Of course I did. How could I forget your birthday? After everything that happened..."

"Nobody else remembered."

"Maybe they don't care as much as I do."

She paused for a moment, a little surprised at the earnestness in his voice. "Are you... implying something..." Raven said slowly.

"Maybe."

"Can't I get a straight answer from you?"

"Nope."

Raven sighed, earning another laugh from the masked hero. "I hate you," she mumbled.

"I know. You know, you've told me that so many times now that I'm beginning to think that it's not true."

"Well, it is," Raven grumbled. "But of course, you don't believe me."

"There are lots of things you say that shouldn't be believed. Like when you said Trigon was undefeatable. And you were unredeemable. But look at you now..."

Raven looked away again. "I'm still not like any of you guys, even with him gone. I'm still a creature of darkness-"

"And so am I."

"Robin," she said with a little more force. "You don't want to be inside my head."

"You've been inside mine and helped me with my problems. Now it's time to return the favor."

"Robin-"

"I can be just as stubborn as you are, Raven."

She closed her eyes. "Why can't you just leave me alone?"

"You know the answer to that-"

"I don't-"

"Yes, you do. You're an empath. There's no way you wouldn't know."

Raven remained silent for several minutes, watching the candles flicker around her. Then up to Robin's face - _whoa. _

"You took your mask off."

He shrugged. "You know what my eyes look like anyway. I just wanted to see you without a film of cloth in front of my eyes."

"You're hellbent on getting me to open up, aren't you." It wasn't a question. He didn't reply - he didn't have to. She looked at him curiously, then her lips curved into a half smile, half frown, half smirk.

"Keep trying."

He chuckled. "I will. Now, blow out that candle and make a wish. And if you tell me what it is, I might be able to get it for you. Late birthday gift, since this is all I could think of."

She studied the flickering light for a long while, contemplating his offer. Then shook her head.

"No, that's fine. I already got what I wanted."

She blew out the candle and smiled in the darkness.

* * *

A/N: "Birthmark" aired on February 5th, so I'm pretending that that's Raven's birthday.

Happy Birthday Raven!


End file.
